Happy Blog Day Everyone!
Got the final part of the Short Diversions: Little Girls and Dead Things story for you all to enjoy today, but also some relatively sad news for Brennan and Riz fans (though I'm hopefully sorting it soon).
Before the doom and gloom of that news, and the just doom of the final part of the story, let's have a bit of fun...
The Comic Tales of Brennan and Riz
The final issue of this spooky seasoned themed issues! Now that this is out of rhw way, we can start the countdown to issue #100!
About this issue though, I thought it was going too well when I started inking it as I made a bit of a mess in the last panel as the spirit of Halloween's arms should be on front of the spirits collar! C'est la vie I guess. Love the rest of it though, and probably the only time Riz might show some concern about anyone else! Feel bad for the spirit, you go out of your way to try and instill the fun in the frightening, and someone won't even give you the time of day! At least Riz is correct, there's always next year...
Brennan and Riz Update
I wish I had some positive news to put here (well I do, but let's get the bad out of the way first).
As of writing, no Brennan and Riz books are available to buy or read online, aside from one copy of A Boy and A Rat that is being sold by a 3rd party. It looks like the old publisher has delisted all the books under their name, without warning, thus wiping out the three books (and one Short story as the yeti one was never in print).
I'll hopefully have them relisted under my account soon, as several people have stepped forward to help (you know who you are and you are lifesavers). Though the question of the covers has crept up as the publishers logo is all over them, and while I was given permission to use re-use them back in April, I'm not sure if that still stands. They all might need new ones doing, which will take time to sort out.
Still, I promised you some good news, and that is the immediate release (well, on Thursday!) of the fourth Malarkey's Imaginomnibus! This one is themed around Ominous Orbs and features stories from all sorts of fantastic authors, as expected of this anthology series. There's even a Brennan and Riz story in this one, which I'll talk about next week. Keep an eye on Medias of the Social kind in a day or so on where to get your hands on this book!
Short Diversions: Little Girls and Dead Things Part 2
Last time, Robyn and Cade had just found their way blocked by the Shadow Malakai and a host of Black Ooze creatures, let's see how they're going to get out of that! Will they also save anyone? Can they even save themselves? Or will Viola get some new experiments?
Read on to find out, and please enjoy.
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Little Girls and Dead Things
2.
The black ooze monstrosities were the first to reach the Knights, showing surprising speed and agility for creatures made of mismatched cadavers. The six beings came thundering down the hallway, and while Cade steeled himself, Robyn started firing away. One of the first arrows that found its mark caused the monster's head to collapse in on itself, a second head appeared to replace it, bursting out of its rib cage with a lipless smile of sharpened and pointed teeth. An arrow between the eyes of this head put the whole thing down, the black ooze covering them dissolving away, leaving a mess of human remains. Robyn had to remind herself that these people were already dead, their lives beyond saving. It still stung to see what was left from her own actions. The demons however, shared no such thoughts for their fallen comrade, as they still came forward, and as fast as Robyn was with a bow, she still wasn’t fast enough to bring them all down.
“It looks like as long as one head remains on them, they can still operate,” Cade cooly theorised . He stepped forward to meet the first black ooze monster that came close, the one with two other bodies attached to its lower half, each complete with arms and heads of their own. The monster rose up, to attack with it’s lower arms, but Cade didn’t give it a chance to connect with the would be strike, his blade leaving a glittering arc as it cleaved through them all like a warm knife through butter. Even the bones in the arms gave no resistance. As the creature fell, Cade performed another sweep, severing the two lower most heads, before swinging the sword around one last time to take the main head. Like the one before it, the creature clattering into a smoosh of flesh and bones, with no trace of the demonic substance that once gave it life. There were still four demons coming at them, a menagerie of twisted bodies, making a mockery of the human form.
Robyn took another down, her arrows finding a home within their already rotting skulls, the enhanced saviour arrow heads crushing them utterly. The next one proved more difficult as it’s main head was hidden within the bloated body that had been clearly made by stitching multiple torsos together. The extra arms that had been grafted onto it caused it to scuttle around like a spider. She had to sink almost five arrows into it before it went down for good, the last shot luckily hitting the head.
Cade had similar luck, his blade dancing through flesh and ooze. Knowing that the pitiful creatures were already dead made him seem a bit callous as he chopped up the corpses, but he summarised that it was the most efficient way of dealing with the problem than using the full extent of his abilities to take the creatures out. At the same time that Robyn had killed the last of the black ooze monsters coming after her, Cade’s last opponent fell into a disgusting heap, its remaining head rolling on the floor in two pieces.
“How many died to make these…things?” Robyn asked sadly, salvaging what arrows she could. The fact that Malakai wasn’t advancing on them gave her time to take what she needed, while Cade quickly inspected the blade of his sword. The neon blue edge still glowed brightly, with no visible cracks of scruffs along its length.
“I’d guess about fifthteen, it’s too hard to verify though as not every piece of them was used to make them. It is the clear work of a mad man.”
“Or an insane little girl.”
“That too, now Knight Master Gouzen, we have to get through him,” Cade pointed towards Malakai who still stood waiting.
“So you still wish to approach me? I suppose you still have your mission that you seek to achieve. However, it is my mission, given by my master himself, to stop you from getting to Viola.”
“And who is your master….This person who leads the ‘Shadows’?” Cade asked, seeing an opportunity to learn more.
“A man of many talents, and of many faces. That is as much as I will say,” Malakai replied quickly, making it clear that the conversation was over before it started.
While Cade mused on what he’d just been told, Robyn stood next to him, bow in hand.
“What’s the plan then? If I offer long range support for you to get close, we may be able to charge past him, or at least, you can. If he chases after me, I can lead him back to these corridors and hope to slip past. I’m guessing they can’t sense too much of a wider area otherwise they would have been attacking us as soon as we stepped foot in that security room,” she said, offering up a suggestion.
“We don’t know what he’s capable of. Every encounter with these ‘Shadows’ in the past has proven that each is unique in what they can do while sharing some similarities, such as their regenerative capabilities. That girl, Viola, her danger level comes from what she can create rather than fighting skills, for example. The fact that he’s stood there, waiting, tells me he is confident in his own ability and that he can handle whatever we have.”
“Do you have a better plan then?”
“I’ll engage him in hand to hand combat, you will get past and continue on. You need to make it to the control room to activate the immolation procedure, and to rescue the survivors before Viola makes another monster. With any luck, we can reunite on the way back to the exit point,” Cade started walking forward, sword by his side.
“You can’t take him on alone!” Robyn shouted. “Like you said, we don’t know what he’s capable of! You’re going to need my help!”
“I may do, but we also have a mission to accomplish. That takes precedence. Get ready to run when you see an opening. It looks like he wants a fair fight, so that is what I’ll give him.”
“...You idiot,” Robyn muttered under her breath, but all the same, she acknowledged what he was trying to do, and for his part, Malakai wasn’t acting like the other ‘Shadows’ that they had met till this point.
“I am Master Inquisitor Cade Anderson, a Knight of Avalon. You gave me your name, and now I have given you mine. I’ll be your challenger,” Cade announced as he advanced on Malakai. Though he wasn’t in his combat stance yet, he was already looking for any signs that an attack was imminent.
“I applaud your bravery, and your honesty. It is rare that I encounter someone who seeks a honourable fight. I must point out though, that I can not let your ally past all the same,” Malakai replied sternly, his tone almost matching Cade’s.
Robyn was so intently focused on what was about to happen that she didn’t see one of the human remains stirring, or see the human head that forced its way out. The head seemed to ride a wave of black ooze that seeped out of it’s eye sockets. Quietly, bits of the black ooze darted off like sinew and connected to other remains, using them to knit itself a horrifying mass of flesh to call a body. With a form somewhat restored, it saw that its foe had her back turned. Not seeing a more perfect opportunity to strike, it coiled itself, but before it could do anything, Malakai saw it.
Interrupting his moment with Cade, Malakai unleashed a wave of energy shaped like a crescent moon from his halberd, the attacking soaring past both Cade and Robyn, bisecting the revived Black Ooze monster, destroying it utterly.
Cade and Robyn couldn’t help but feel a bit of shock as they both looked over their shoulders.
“Now, we may truly begin,” the Shadow said, resuming his stance. The tension in the air as both sides waited to see who would react first. All sound seemed to cease, and time crawled to a stop. Robyn, already on edge after the little display of Malakai’s power, was now also weary about the black ooze; her nerves were taut, but she kept it together. One didn’t get to her position in Avalon without learning how to deal with stressful situations. That being said though, it was little comfort.
The break in the tension came when there was a far off noise, a clang of metal, the sound of something falling over. Malakai made the first move, he swung his halberd round, taking care not to catch it on the sides of the corridor, his weapon leaving him almost no room to manoeuvre. The speed of his swing was inhuman, but Cade reacted well within time, performing a defensive move, making sure the blade of Malakai’s weapon only met the sacred metal of the True Saviour Blade. Cade tried to push it aside, wanting an opening to take advantage of, but the Shadow stepped back, before attacking again, coming at an opposite angle. Cade rolled to the side and launched himself from a kneeling position, wanting to get within Malakai’s attack range, pitting his sword against the restricted reach of Malakai’s. The same dance repeated itself several times, with neither side being able to land so much as a glancing blow.
Everytime that Malakai got within perfect striking distance, Cade either deflected it or moved back, and it was the same from the Shadow’s point of view. Sparks flew whenever the weapons met together for their brief clashes.
Robyn was dumbstruck by the intensity of the fight, noting to herself that the only reason a normal human like Cade was able to keep up with the Shadow was all the Saviour gear he’d ended up with. He’d been given his True Saviour Blade years ago, on account of his excellent service. It was a relic of the times the so-called Saviours walked the earth, was his biggest asset, as without that, he could never have hoped to harm the more deadlier demons. Then there was his armour, a patented creation of her sister’s, taken from ancient documents that were uncovered. This armour was hidden under Cade’s more formal clothes, but allowed him to go toe to toe with the worst of threats, offering enhanced speed, strength and some durability. She imagined that a fight like this though would push him to the limit, as it certainly didn’t look like Malakai was breaking a sweat, as even though Cade was countering his moves, he just launched into another barrage.
She still felt bad for not helping him, thinking that the pair of them working together might have been enough to see him off, even if flat out defeating him was a fairytale. It led her to wonder what Isabelle would do if she was there. Would she have stepped in, forcing Malakai to take on the two of them? Or would she place her full trust in Cade like she always did, and head on to accomplish the rest of the mission. Knowing that was exactly what Isabelle would have done, Robyn chose to do the latter. She didn’t think that Cade would forgive her otherwise, and she certainly didn’t want that hanging over her head. Sighing, she watched their fight, needing only a single opportunity to sneak by.
Her chance came quicker than she anticipated, as while Malakai started firing more of those crescent energy blasts out, the sound of metal breaking happened again, much louder this time, and much closer. Even Malakai paused for a brief second, listening in.
“That brat,” he muttered under his breath. Before Cade could even question it, the wall behind them buckled and burst apart, as a hulking form appeared, with more of the Black Ooze monsters dragging themselves behind it.
“I am taking care of this, ‘Sam’, go back to your sister!” Malakai ordered, but Sam didn’t say anything, he couldn’t, his mouth was stitched shut. The beast saw Cade and Robyn and threw its head back, making a sound that could only be described as nightmarish. The Black Ooze creatures rushed forward, wanting their prey.
“NO!” Malakai yelled, demanding obedience, and when the monsters didn’t respond, he swept his weapon around, and killed them all with a similar attack as the one he did before. Sam was unfazed by this and moved forward with relentless purpose.
Robyn didn’t know what was going on, but saw an opening all the same, but it meant getting in between the Shadow, and whatever Sam was. She ran full pelt.
“Robyn!” Cade shouted out, afraid of her chances. Malakai saw her, but instead, his gazes shifted to Sam, as he lifted his massive fists, intent on striking Robyn down as soon as she was in range. As the distance got smaller, and smaller, her stress level increased, as she needed the timing to be perfect. There was another chance she was taking here, one that Isabelle would have chastised her for if she knew. Now she was within a metre and Sam duly went to bring his fist down on her, the speed of the blow betraying the speed he’d been moving so far. Robyn jumped forward into a roll, passing just under the incoming fist as it drove into the ground. Malakai never acted once, instead watching as Sam became stuck briefly, trying with all his might to free himself. He slowly turned his head to watch as Robyn recovered herself, and kept on running, disappearing down the corridor.
“Hadn’t you better go after her then?” Malakai sneered, as Sam turned around, and this time, he fell on all fours, using his forearms to drag himself forward and then leaping along, crashing into the ceiling every time.
“You’re not going after her yourself?” Cade asked, eyebrow raised.
“I will take care of you, and Sam will take care of your friend, instead of interfering with our fight.”
“Given that I think you are the biggest threat here, by a large margin. That is something I’m glad of,” Cade pointed his word at his opponent as he spoke. Malakai didn’t reply with anything, but instead resumed their fight, coming at Cade with renewed vigour.
Robyn thought she heard their fight resume, but given her circumstances, she couldn’t confirm anything. What she could confirm was that ‘Sam’ was chasing her. The sound of his landings were thankfully not getting closer, so she was still ahead, but she wasn’t going to be able to rescue anyone like this, not with a threat following so closely behind her. She needed a plan, and she needed it now. She thought back to the layout of the research centre, thinking of what rooms were ahead and where she needed to be. This gave her an idea, and she eagerly led Sam onwards. From previous reports, Sam could take a lot of punishment, more than she could dish out on her own. It wouldn’t have been a problem if she had Isabelle’s demon sword, but she didn’t, and her arrows wouldn’t slow him down. She knew something that would slow him down, however, and so engineered a way to lead him to somewhere where there was a way to slow him down. She did her best to lead him on, she wanted him to know where she was going, but still be a couple of steps ahead, afterall, she needed to find what she was looking for without being attacked first.
A sign up ahead caught her attention, the laboratory she’d been waiting for, however, Sam had gotten a little bit faster, either through speed, or efficiency in crashing less. He was almost upon her, causing her to throw herself backwards through the open door, bow at the ready, with an arrow aimed at his head. All she needed was a slight distraction, and the manoeuvre gave her that . The arrow struck Sam point blank in his head, and the little motor in the arrow head started off, and the projectile started whirring as a little motor sprang into life. It started to spin, like a drill, going in as deep as it could, till the monster ripped it free of his brain, but it had given Robyn all the time she required. She darted into the lab, and quickly scanned the surroundings. She knew what she was looking for, and was glad that she found it. Three barrels were stacked in the corner, each bearing red warning labels, describing the contents. She stood In front of them and faced the door, working on the next stage of her plan. Taking what looked like a compact motor from her pocket, she hastily fitted it to her bow, and then took another arrow and tied rope to it.
With her prep work set up, she now waited for Sam to reappear, and that didn't take long as his hulking form forced its way through the door frame. A moment more, and he was already halfway across the room, taking no care about any of the equipment or furniture in the way. It fell to the last moment before Robyn acted. Getting as low to the ground as possible, she fired an arrow straight between the gap between Sam's legs as he went to smash a massive fist down on her. The arrow flew straight and stuck in a bit of the wall above the ruined door. Then, as Sam began the downward arc of his attack, Robyn hit the motor on the bow, which rapidly began to wind the rope in, dragging her under Sam and past him, well out of his attack range.
Unable to stop himself, Sam's fist collided with the first barrel and it exploded, covering him in a thick green sludge, which hardened fast. Robyn wasn't finished here though, back on her feet, she loaded an explosive arrow, and settled her aim on the remaining barrels, and let the arrow do the final part of her plans. The barrels exploded with the impact of the explosive arrow head, covering Sam in more gunk. Like before, it hardened fast, glueing him to the spot almost instantly, he tried to turn to face her, but couldn’t make it.
Robyn left him in there, knowing any further attacks might just disrupt the gunk, allowing him his freedom a lot sooner than she would like. She ran through the corridors once more, only hearing the distant sounds of Cade’s battle against Malakai. This brought her some relief as pure silence may have meant that the worst could have happened. There was a sound ahead of her, footsteps, and an agitated sighing. While Robyn would have loved it to have been the survivor coming to her, she knew it could only be one person, and she quickly hid behind some equipment, keeping her head down as low as she could. The figure came into view, as Viola angrily walked down the corridor, her pace unnaturally fast.
“You ask for one little job to be done, and no one does it! I really have to do everything around here!” she cussed. “Sam’s going to get punished for this!”
Robyn did think it was amusing at first that the child was talking to herself, but it quickly passed when she remembered what exactly Viola was now, and the power she wielded, and what she had done to all the employees of the research centre. If she was certain it would kill her, she would have attempted an attack, pushing back every ounce of distaste she had at doing such a deed. That’s how much a threat she knew the child was, if she could be called a child. Instead, no such action was undertaken, and Robyn watched as Viola strode out of sight, and that she would come across Sam’s trapped body, which gave some time. Not wanting to waste it, Robyn scrambled to the direction that the child had come from.
The room Viola had come from no longer resembled a laboratory, it was more an abattoir with dried blood stains everywhere and human remains slowly rotting away. There was an array of tools lying around, some of them were still smeared with gore. Robyn spared a thought for the lives lost in this room, but she pushed on. There was an open door, which must have been a storeroom when the lab was being used for it’s proper purpose, and it was here that Robyn found what she was hoping to see. Inside a makeshift cage, a young woman sat, wearing the tattered remains of her lab coat. She sat with her knees up, head against them tight.
“My name is Robyn Gouzen, and I’m here to get you to safety,” Robyn announced, the girl looked up but didn’t say anything, the pain was too much in her eyes. Robyn understood and left her alone for a moment, she had one other task to complete after all. She was able to coax the young woman out and led her back into the lab, where she accessed the computer and started typing.
“What’s your name?” Robyn asked the young woman, she didn’t think that there was that much of a gap between them. The woman didn’t answer, but after a moment, she started staring at the door, and pointed a shaking finger at it.
“Well, well, well. Look at what the cat dragged in! Looks like I didn’t need to send you in afterall!” Viola cackled, she was holding Sam’s severed head, the expressionless eyes simply looked on.
“I’ve got nothing to say to you,” Robyn replied. She tried to keep an eye on the child and on the computer screen.
“No, you Avalon idiots never do. All my test subjects here tried not to say anything, but you know, screaming does count.”
Robyn didn’t give her a response, knowing that was what she was wanting. However, there was one response she wanted to give her.
“When I say run, we’re running. Stay close to me, okay?” Robyn whispered into the other woman’s ear.
“Whispering sweet nothings in her ear eh? Want to tell everyone?” Viola taunted.
“Oh, I don’t have anything to say, the computer on the other hand? That’s got something to say!”
“What?” Viola asked, suddenly feeling a little nervous.
“Immolation Protocol has been activated,” a voice rang out across every room and every corridor.
“Imm-immolation? Oh…OH! Shit!” Viola cursed. “Goddammit it! I had a good thing going on here!” Viola turned and ran, only pausing to give Robyn an angry glare. “This isn’t over!” the child ran off, the sound of her footsteps quickly disappearing.
“Now, it’s our turn to move!” Robyn grabbed the young woman’s hand and led her out of the room, and down the corridor, finding Cade waiting for her. He was battered, and bruised but seemed no worse for wear than when they separated.
“You were able to complete the mission I see,” he stated.
“And you were able to defeat that Malakai guy?” Robyn asked in return.
“No, the fight was called off due to the impending destruction of the building, but it doesn’t matter now. We must hurry to our entry point. Otherwise we’ll get caught up in the blast.” He led the way, all the way back to the security office that had greeted them on their arrival.
“Knight Master Gouzen, you head up first, then our guest can go in the middle, and I can bring up the rear, in case of any trouble,” Cade said pointing to the shaft they had climbed down.
“What trouble are you expecting?” Robyn questioned. “We’re the only living things here aren’t we?”
With a squelch, and a sickening scream, Robyn instantly regretted asking that question as the last Black Ooze monster crawled down the shaft, cutting off their escape route, and leaving very little time for survival. Cade and Robyn both put themselves in the way of the monster’s attack, but every second they took to defeat and kill the creature would be a second wasted. What happened next, seemed to have neem a hazy dream, as Robyn remembered going to fire an arrow at the monster, with Cade getting ready to charge in, till movement by the door to the corridor, catching them by surprise. There, Malakai stood, his arm outstretched and with a flick of his wrist, Robyn, Cade and the surviving young woman were consumed by darkness.They felt like they’d fallen for what seemed like a long time, till all the three found themselves staring up at the stars, while just ahead, the Dark Oak Hall, burned away.
“How...How did we end up out here?” Robyn asked, but Cade didn’t have an answer for her. He looked around, but found no trace of the Shadow that had just saved their lives.
“I think…” Cade started to say, but found the rest of the sentence too incredible to believe. “I think Malakai saved us.”
“But…Why? We’re his enemies are we? Why would he want us alive?”
“I don’t know,” Cade admitted. “There is no reason why he should have spared us.” The young woman next to them found herself staring at the stars, crying as she did. The fact that she was alive felt like a miracle. None of them could explain what had happened, let along the why….
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Hope everyone enjoyed the story, back to a more enjoyable schedule next month, will allow me to dive back into Daemon Soul: Avalon, as I've got a lot of writing to do there!
That's is for this week.
Till next time...
...Keep writing!
Peter James Martin
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Malarkey's Imaginomnibus Volume 1
